Prayer Guide for Our Unbroken Prayer Chain

The church where I serve as Lead Pastor, Faith Baptist, is doing an unbroken prayer chain where participants take turns praying for an hour alone in the church. I prepared the following guide to help focus the participants in their prayer time. If you aren't able to make it to the church to participate, but want to join us in praying, I would invite you to spend some time praying through this guide.

Thanks again for participating in the Unbroken Prayer Chain!

I know that it can be a little daunting to think about praying for a whole hour, but the time flies once you get started. Prayer is a conversation with the God of the Universe. It is a two way street whereby you speak with the Creator and he speaks with you in the quiet of your heart. There are no magical phrases to use in prayer and you by no means have to rigidly follow this (or really any) guide. Just talk to God and listen for His guidance.

The best teaching I can point you to about how to pray comes from Jesus himself and its found in Matthew 6:7-15:

When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The prayer Jesus taught us gives us a model which we can follow in our own prayers. If you get stumped, please feel free to use the guide below to get focused.

“Our Father in heaven…”

• “Father” - He is the creative source of us and all things.
• “Our Father” - We belong to a family of like persons created in His image.
• “in heaven” -  God is positioned in heaven, above everything. He is above all the kingdoms, governments, and powers on Earth. He is absolutely sovereign and controls everything everywhere.  

“hallowed be your name.”

People in ancient times called God by different names depending on the context in which they were addressing Him. Each of these names reflects a different aspect of God’s character. While God is each one of these things all of the time, He sometime reveals to us different parts of His nature depending on our situation. Reflect on these biblical names of God and consider what part of His nature he is revealing to you in your life right now:

• Jehovah Jireh (Gen 22:13,14) the Lord will provide (El Shaddai) The all sufficient one
• Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26) the Lord that heals (Elohim) Strong One
• Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:15) the Lord our banner (Jehovah Sabaoth) Lord of Host
• Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:24) the Lord our peace (El Elyon) Most High God
• Jehovah Ra-ah (Psalm 23:1) the Lord is my shepherd (Adonai) Lord
• Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6) the Lord our righteousness (M’Kaddesh) Lord My Sanctifier
• Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) the Lord is present (El Olam) The Everlasting God

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

 Remember, we are praying first and foremost for God’s perfect will to be accomplished in our lives, not our own. We are called to build God’s Kingdom, not our own. Jesus even prayed in this manner when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-56). Jesus was asking the Father if there was any way he could accomplish the work of redeeming us from sin without suffering his death on the cross. He finished this prayer by saying, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

• Pray that God’s kingdom will come to you, to each member of your family, to your friends, to our church and to our community.
• Pray for God’s will to be done in every area of your life.
• Praise God for His kingdom, power and glory manifested in our world.

“Give us this day our daily bread,”

This is where we make out petition to God for the things we need and desire. Remember the counsel we find in James 4 when making these petitions. “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” We must ask in order to receive, but we must ask for things for the right reasons.

• Pray specifically for God’s daily provision for your family.
• Pray specifically for those on the church prayer list.
• Pray specifically for provision for you church, and other ministries. (Including our upcoming events and our effort to revitalize the ministry of our church)
• Pray that God would send laborers into His Harvest.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

• Specifically ask God to speak clearly to each one of us at Faith about His plans for our church. Ask Him to lead us to have vibrant worship services, meaningful small groups, and an engaging student ministry.
• Praise God for His promised and demonstrated provision of daily bread.

“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

• Ask God to search your heart and reveal to you anything that is displeasing to Him just as David did.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

• Confess (agree with God about) those areas the Spirit has convicted you of, ask God to forgive you, and ask Him to cleanse you of them.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

• Release anyone who has wronged you by vocalizing forgiveness in God’s presence. Ask God to help you see if there is anyone you have been withholding forgiveness from that you need to forgive and then ask Him to help you forgive them.
• Take time to reflect on the forgiveness you have received and thank God for His forgiveness.“Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil”
• Pray that the Lord leads you to avoid all the temptations of your own flesh and that he would deliver you from the traps of the enemy.
• Thank God for leading you thus far by His Grace.

Please feel free to worship freely and pray over anything the Lord leads you to pray about, Just make sure you spend time listening to him.